Canine Subcutaneous Mast Cell Tumor: Characterization and Prognostic Indices.

The article evaluates the pathology and clinical outcome of a large number of canine subcutaneous mast cell tumors (MCTs) to characterize their behavior, histology and clinical prognosis. It describes the clinical outcome for 306 dogs obtained from veterinarians and correlated with histologic features. Analysis reportedly indicates mitotic index to be predictive of survival, local reoccurrence and metastasis, and that the majority of subcutaneous MCTs have a favorable prognosis with extended survival times and low rates of reoccurrence and metastasis.